


Cold Summer

by AthenaStarsnow



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Gift Fic, Name Changes, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27053488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaStarsnow/pseuds/AthenaStarsnow
Summary: Percy Jackson meets Hades. Things go slightly differently.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Percy Jackson)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Cold Summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GambitsCard](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GambitsCard/gifts).



> A fic for a fellow Redditor with a fun idea.
> 
> There is a bit of set up taken directly from The Lightning Thief. I wanted it to melt into the chapter as seamless as possible.

The Furies circled the parapets, high in the gloom. The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open.

Up close, I saw that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death. Some were from modern times ー an atomic bomb exploding over a city, a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls ー but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. I wondered if I was looking at prophecies that had come true.

Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I’d ever seen, but it felt somehow familiar. Multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs, and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight. Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, clumps of raw diamonds. Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa’s garden statues ー petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs ー all smiling grotesquely. In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees, their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. “The garden of Persephone,” Annabeth said. “Keep walking.”

The garden of _what now?_

I stopped in my tracks and I started to get dizzy.

The confusion wore off quickly as I forced my feet to continue moving forward. I understood why Annabeth wanted to move on. The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming. I had a sudden desire to eat them.

If there was one myth I never got mixed up or straight-up forgot about, it was the story of my namesake. One bite of Underworld food, and we would never be able to leave. I pulled Grover away to keep him from picking up a big juicy one.

We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades. The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above. I guess they never had to worry about rain down here.

Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or muskets or M-16s. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end.

Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests.

“You know,” Grover mumbled, “I bet Hades doesn’t have trouble with door-to-door salesmen.”

My backpack weighed a ton now. I couldn’t figure out why. I wanted to open it, check to see if I had somehow picked up a stray bowling ball, but this wasn’t the time.

“Well, guys,” I said. “I suppose we should… knock?”

A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside.

“I guess that means _entrez-vous,_ ” Annabeth said.

The room inside looked just like in my dream, except this time the throne of Hades was occupied.

He was the third god I’d met, but the first who really struck me as godlike. 

He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn’t bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther.

I immediately felt like he should be giving the orders. He knew more than I did. He should be my master. Then I told myself to snap out of it.

Hades’s aura was affecting me, just as Ares’s had. The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures I’d seen of Adolph Hitler, or Napoleon, or the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers. Hades had the same intense eyes, the same kind of mesmerizing, evil charisma.

“You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon,” he said in an oily voice. “After what you have done to me, very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply foolish.”

Numbness crept into my joints, tempting me to lie down and take a little nap at Hades’s feet. Curl up here and sleep forever.

I fought the feeling and stepped forward. I knew what I had to say. “Lord and Uncle. I come with two requests.”

Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment, as if the garment were stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out. The ADHD part of me wondered, off-task, whether the rest of his clothes were made the same way. What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades’s underwear?

“Only two requests?” Hades said. “Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet.”

I swallowed. This was going about as well as I’d feared.

I glanced at the empty, smaller throne next to Hades’s. It was shaped like a black flower, gilded with gold. I wished Queen Persephone was here. She could calm her husband’s moods. But it was summer. Of course, Persephone would be above in the world of light with her mother, the goddess of agriculture, Demeter. Her visits, not the tilt of the planet, create the seasons.

Annabeth cleared her throat. Her finger prodded me in the back.

“Lord Hades,” I said. “Look, sir, there can’t be a war among the gods. It would be… bad.”

“Really bad,” Grover added helpfully.

“Return Zeus’s master bolt to me,” I said. “Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus.”

Hades’s eyes grew dangerously bright. “You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?”

I glanced back at my friends. They looked as confused as I was.

“Um… Uncle,” I said. “You keep saying ‘after what you have done.’ What exactly have I done?”

The throne room shook with a tremor so strong, they probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles. Debris fell from the cavern ceiling. Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization. They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits.

Hades bellowed, “Do you think I _want_ war, godling?”

I wanted to say, _Well, these guys don’t look like peace activists_. But I thought that might be a dangerous answer.

“You are the Lord of the Dead,” I said carefully. “A war would expand your kingdom, right?” 

“A typical thing for my brothers to say! Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?”

“Well…”

“Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I’ve had to open?”

I opened my mouth to respond, but Hades was on a roll now.

“More security ghouls,” he moaned. “Traffic problems at the judgement pavilion. Double overtime for the staff. I used to be a rich god, Perseus Jackson. I control all the precious metal under the earth. But my expenses.”

“Charon wants a pay raise,” I blurted. As soon as I said it, I wished I could sew up my mouth.

“Don’t get me started on Charon!” Hades yelled. “He’s been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I’ve got to handle all of them personally. The commute time from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving, at staggering rates. What are you mortals even doing up there!? No, godling. I need no help getting subjects. I did not ask for this war.”

“But you took Zeus’s master bolt.”

“Lies!” More rumbling. Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football goalpost. “Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan.”

“His plan?”

“You were the thief on the winter solstice,” he said. “Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus. You took the master bolt _and_ my helm. Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon’s thief, and I will have my helm back!”

“But….” Annabeth spoke. I could tell her mind was going a million miles an hour. “Lord Hades, your helm of darkness is missing, too?”

“Do not play innocent with me, girl. You and the satyr have been helping this hero ー coming here to threaten me in Poseidon’s name no doubt ー to bring me an ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed into supporting him?”

“No!” I said. “Poseidon didn’t ー I didn’t ー”

“I have said nothing of the helm’s disappearance,” Hades snarled, “because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing. So I searched for you myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you.”

“You didn’t try to stop us? But ー”

“Return my helm now, or I will stop death,” Hades threatened. “That is my counterproposal. I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson ー your skeleton will lead my army out of Hades.”

The skeletal soldiers all took one step forward, making their weapons ready. At that point, I probably should have been terrified. The strange thing was, I felt offended. Nothing gets me angrier than being accused of something I didn’t do. I’ve had a lot of experience with that.

“You’re as bad as Zeus,” I said. “You think I stole from you? That’s why you sent the Furies after me?”

“Of course,” Hades said.

“And the other monsters?”

Hades curled his lip. “I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you ー I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Field of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?”

“ _Easily?_ ”

“Return my property!”

“But I don’t have your helm. I came for the master bolt.”

“Which you already possess!” Hades shouted. “You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could threaten me!”

“But I didn’t!”

“Open your pack, then.”

A horrible feeling struck me. The weight in my backpack, like a bowling ball. It couldn’t be…

I slung it off my shoulder and unzipped it. Inside was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy.

“Percy,” Annabeth said. “How ー “

“I ー I don’t know. I don’t understand.”

“You heroes are always the same,” Hades said. “Your pride makes you foolish, thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus’s master bolt, but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool. And now… my helm. Where is it?”

I was speechless. I had no helm. I had no idea how the master bolt had gotten into my backpack. I wanted to think Hades was pulling some kind of trick. Hades was the bad guy. But suddenly the world turned sideways. I realized I’d been played with. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades had been set at each other’s throats by someone else. The master bolt had been in the backpack, and I’d gotten the backpack from…

“Lord Hades, wait,” I said. “This is all a mistake.”

“A mistake?” Hades roared.

The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above, there was a fluttering of leathery wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master’s throne. The one with Mrs. Dodd’s face grinned at me eagerly and flicked her whip.

“There is no mistake,” Hades said. “I know why you have come ー I know the _real_ reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for _her_.”

Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of me, and there was my mother, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was at the moment when the Minotaur began to squeeze her to death.

I couldn’t speak. I reached out to touch her, but the light was as hot as a bonfire.

‘Yes,” Hades said with satisfaction. “I took her. I knew, Perseus Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually. Return my helm, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change.”

My brain was completely frozen. I could barely think, let alone speak, but a word slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it. 

“Persephone.”

The quake that followed those four spoken syllables made the previous quakes look tiny in comparison. The walls rattled with tremendous force, and one of the pillars came crashing down behind us. Hades’s hold on my mom slipped, and she began to move again, ever so slowly, as the gold fire around her faded. She took in her surroundings and frowned, but smiled when she saw that I was alive. I returned the smile.

“What? Why do you _dare_ utter the name of my wife, godling? If you were trying for sympathy, you have made a grave mistake. Your _last_ mistake.”

“I said it because it’s my name too. Percy isn’t short for Perseus. My mother named me Persephone.”

“I…” Hades tried to counter me, but was stunned into silence. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t this. “What kind of bold faced lie is this?”

He waved his hand, and an enormous scroll appeared in his grip. He studied it closely. 

“Persephone Jackson. Born August the 18th, 1993 to Sally Jackson and Poseidon. I… don’t know what to say. What in Tartarus made your mother name you this way?”

I had often given that very question a lot of thought throughout my whole life, but I could never come up with an answer other than _she wanted to embarrass me_. But now… now I think I finally had the answer. It was for this very moment.

“She named me Persephone in honor of your wife, Lord Hades. And as a first step, to mending the rift between you and Poseidon.” I bowed my head for emphasis, desperately hoping this show of respect would be enough to get him to see clearly. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see my mother’s smile grow brighter. She was still half-trapped in the fading fire.

“Your name is _Persephone_?” Grover asked.

“I thought your name was Perseus!” Annabeth said.

“I… uh… kind of lied about that.” I would’ve told them that _Perseus_ was a little less embarrassing than _Persephone_ , but they both sounded pretty dumb to me. Not that I’d say that _Persephone_ was a dumb name, not in front of the Lord of the Dead.

“Oh I like this one,” a cheerful voice said. The speaker was unseen, but Hades’s eyes widened at the words, and the pent up rage inside of him died down a little bit. Darkness blossomed on the black-petaled throne, and a slim figure slipped through a shadowy tear in reality. 

She was just as tall as Hades, but instead of dressed in the Ancient Greek fashion, she looked much more modern, wearing what could only be described as an odd mix of hippie and goth. She wore a forest-green sundress dotted with tiny black skulls, wooden wrist bangles, a mix of bracelets featuring rainbow beads and black leather stripes with spikes, and a pair of cheap flip-flops. Her long brunette hair cascaded down her back, and her head was topped with a living ー and dying ー flower crown. A brightly colored flower would spring to life, blossom and bloom, and then shrivel and die, only to be replaced by a completely different flower. It happened over and over, like the cycles of the seasons.

Her legs were crossed and raised up on the left armrest of her chair, and she was munching casually on a pomegranate. Her eyes, a bright green that popped vibrantly ー even more so while contrasted with the eyeliner and smokey-eye makeup she was wearing ー regarded me with an uncomfortable intensity. 

“Persephone, my love! What are you doing here?” Hades asked. We all stared at her as she continued to eat her snack as nonchalantly as she could.

“It’s the middle of the summer! How are you here?” Annabeth asked.

“Haven't you ever snuck out of your house?” Persephone asked, flashing Annabeth a wicked grin. “Oh, what am I saying? Your Athena’s kid. You’re a rule-follower if I ever saw one. It was all too easy to slip out of there when Hades’s dumb brothers are making storms the size of continents, covering up the warm summer sun. But hey, if anyone asks, I’m taking initiative on global warming! Trying to keep things cool before the planet completely melts. You mortals are making a total mess up there. I’m doing my best here, but wow. It’s gonna get soooo bad.” 

She finished her pomegranate and swung her legs forward, sitting on her throne properly. She leaned closer and regarded us.

“Onto the business at hand. Hades, dear, you need to chill out. Do you really think this half-blood could come up with such a ridiculously complicated plan all by himself? He’s what… still in his double digits? They can barely even walk unassisted at that age.”

“It’s not his plan, it’s Poseidon’s plan!”

“Poseidon is so wishy-washy, go where the sea takes you kind of vibe. This isn’t his style, and you know it.”

“I…” Hades’s face scrunched up, like he was trying his hardest to come up with a reason to argue, and it took everything I had not to laugh in that moment. His face finally relaxed and he let out a frustrated sigh. “I guess you do have a point.”

“I mean look at him. It’s obvious he’s no criminal mastermind. It makes much more sense that this kid has no idea what is going on,” she continued.

“Hey!” I protested. Annabeth gave me a shrug and a quick grin, as if to say _Hey, it's true._

“He has your brother’s bug zapper,” Persephone said. “The quicker he takes it back to Olympus, the quicker this mess gets sorted out, and the quicker we can find your hat.”

“It’s not a hat, it's a helm of darkness! You wouldn’t like it if someone stole _your_ crown now, would you?”

“I’m only teasing, love. Now that we’ve gotten this misunderstanding out of the way, I’m sure your favorite nephew would be more than happy to go on a little quest for us, wouldn’t he?”

I stepped forward with a wide grin plastered on my face. This was the wildest left turn I ever could’ve imagined, but I wasn’t about to look a gift-centaur in the mouth.

“Very well. Consider this an official quest. Persephone Jackson, if you return my helm I shall return to you your mother.” There was just enough time for my mom to wave goodbye before she disappeared in a blaze of golden fire once again.

“Agreed. I’ll find your helm, Uncle,” I told him. “I’ll return it.”

“Then you may leave the Underworld in peace. You will only be welcomed back safely if you have my helm of darkness with you. Do not return to my realm without it.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it, Uncle. Oh, don’t forget about Charon’s pay raise.”

“He will not be getting a raise!”

“Honey, it’s been three thousand years,” Persephone reminded him. “With all the dead souls he has to ferry, don’t you think he ought to be compensated?”

There was an awkward silence followed by a flat “Yes, dear.”

“And it wouldn’t hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He likes red rubber balls,” I blurted out.

“See? I’ve been saying this for eons now! We need to play with him! And take him for more walks along the River Lethe! He’s gaining weight!”

“Yes, dear.”

“Awww you’re so sweet. How’d I get so lucky to find a guy like you?” Hades’s foot started tapping impatiently as Persephone reached over and held his hand.

“Now be off, quickly, Percy Jackson. I want to spend some time with my wife before her accursed mother eventually finds out she’s not on Olympus and takes her away from me once again.”

“Riiiight. Goodbye!” I did not want to stick around long enough to see anybody making out with Hades.

“Farewell, Persephone,” Persephone said with an exaggerated wink.

“Uh… since you want us to get out of here quickly… it took us a long time to get to your palace. Would you be able to ー ”

“Yes, yes, whatever gets you out of here faster,” Hades said, waving his hand dismissively. He was barely paying attention to us now, lost in the googly eyes his wife was giving him.

I felt a weightless sensation take over me, and we started to rise up from the ground.

“Look up!” Grover yelled. “We’re going to crash!”

Sure enough, we were racing right towards the stalactites, which I figured would skewer us. We screamed as we slammed into darkness.

Were we dead?

No, I could still feel the racing sensation. We were going up, right through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water. For a few moments, I couldn’t see anything, but then I broke through on the ocean floor. Annabeth and Grover weren’t too far behind, and kept pace with me as we soared upward through the water. And ー _ker-blam!_

We exploded on the surface, in the middle of the Santa Monica Bay, knocking a surfer off his board with an indignant, “Dude!”

I grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy. I caught Annabeth and dragged her over too. A curious shark was circling us, a great white about eleven feet long.

I said, “Beat it.”

The shark turned and raced away.

The surfer screamed something about bad mushrooms and paddled away from us as fast as he could.

Somehow, I knew what time it was: early morning, June 21st, the day of the summer solstice.

In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from the neighborhoods all over the city. There had been a series of earthquakes, all right, and it was Hades’s fault, from the temper tantrum he threw before Persephone showed up to save our collective butts. A chill wind whipped through the air on what should’ve been a hot summer day, a subtle reminder to make sure to thank the goddess of springtime. And I would, when I returned to the Underworld bearing Hades’s helm.

But first, I had to get to shore. I had to get Zeus’s thunderbolt back to Olympus. Most of all, I had to have a serious conversation with the god who’d tricked me.


End file.
